Joes and Cooley get off to a winning start

terms before a Cian Commins point restored the Marys advantage but the visitors kicked the last two points of the half through Benny Traynor and Stephen Kilcoyne to lead by 0-5 to 1-1 at the break.

Kilcoyne extended the gap shortly after the restart but two points from Mark Fay levelled the game before Liam Jackson pointed a free to put his side back in front. Tristan Knowles doubled the lead on 44 minutes with what proved to be his side’s final point of the game.

Sean O’Mahonys were unable to salvage anything from the game despite the fact that they struck the final point through Kilcoyne.

ST MARYS: Gavin Douglas; Donal McKenny, Barry McCoy, Conor Keenan; Brendan Matthews, Philip Trainor, Eimhin Keenan; Robert Leavy, Liam Jackson 0-1; Tristan Knowles 0-1, Cian Commins 0-1, Tiarnan Corrigan 1-0; Mark Fay 0-2, Jamie Rooney, Evan Malone. Subs: Evan Malone for T Jackson, Alan McGauley for D Douglas, Karl Faulkner for P Trainer, Lorcan Malone for J Rooney, Cillian Scott for M Fay, Gavin Kirk for T Corrigan.

SEAN O’MAHONYS: Paudie McConville; Ciaran Finan, Robbie Galligan, Colin Finan; Niall McLaughlin, John Murphy, Eoin Hanratty; Conor Martin, Shane Kerrigan 0-1; Ben McLaughlin 0-1, Kyle Carroll 0-1, Sean Matthews; Stephen Kilcoyne 0-2, Shane Brennan, Benny Traynor 0-2. Subs: Kevin Brennan for P McConville, Cian McEvoy for N McLaughlin, Ciaran Jameson for E Hanratty, Alan Carr for B McLaughlin, Terry Kelly for S Matthews. THE Joes got their season off to a winning start in round 1 of the Sheelan Cup with a five-point win over the O Raghallaighs in Cluskey Park.

Alan Quigley and Eoin Moore traded points early on and that set the trend for a tight first half. Quigley accounted for three more points while Ruairi Moore and Barry Flanagan were on target for the Drogheda men as the teams were level at four points apiece on 22 minutes.

However, the Joes finished the half strongly by hitting four unanswered points, two each from Jack Mulligan and Alan Quigley to lead by 0-8 to 0-4 at the break.

The O Raghallaighs, with the aid of the breeze, narrowed the margin from a Barry Flanagan 25m free and the Joes goal had a narrow escape when a blistering shot went narrowly wide. The sides exchanged points with Oisin McGuinness on target for the Joes and Olan Walshe responding for the O Raghallaighs to leave the Joes ahead by 0-9 to 0-6 after 40 minutes.

Killian Staunton and Alan McKenna were central to many fine Joes attacks and a strong run by David Kieran setup Oisin McGuiness to extend the Joes lead to four.

The visitors hit back with Barry Flanagan pointing from a superb long-range strike. An Alan Quigley 13m free for the Joes was cancelled out by a point from full forward John Horan to leave the Joes ahead by 0-11 to 0-8 on 49 minutes. As in the first half the Joes finished strongly with two points from Oisin McGuinness to leave the Joes winners on a scoreline of 0-13 to 0-8.

ST JOSEPHS: Shane Barron; Aidan Kieran, Philip Brennan, Stefan Potts; David Kieran, Shane McQuillan, Gerard Hoey; O’CONNELLS got their season off to a winning start when they had six points to spare over the Clans on the Ecco Road on Saturday night.

The sides shared the first four points of the game with Niall Conlon landing both for the visitors and Robbie Curran getting both for the Clans from frees.

Conlon got his and his team’s third point of the game from a free but Sean O’Hanlon equalised a couple of minutes later. However, that was to be the home team’s last score of the half as the Bellingham side got a hold of the game.

Salem Rifaie put the visitors in front with a point before Jackie Agnew struck the first goal of the game while points from Conlon (2) and Conlon had the Bellingham side 1-7 to 0-3 ahead at the break. It could have been even more but for three excellent saves from Clans keeper, Cillian Rice in the closing stages.

Conlon increased his team’s lead with the first point of the second half and Curran got the home side on the board with a free. The Bellingham team got their second goal from a long ball in to Rifaie and he hand passed to Conlon who made no mistake shooting to the corner of the net.

Points from Mark Newell and Curran reduced the deficit but a point from Agnew left the score 2-9 to 0-6 after 47 minutes, before Newell and Paul Gore reduced the margin to seven going into the last eight minutes.

Conlon added to that lead with his seventh point of the game but points from Mark McGeown and a brace of frees from Curran left five between the sides with a couple of minutes to go. Substitute Cian Doyle got the last point of the game to wrap up the victory for O’Connells and ensure they made a winning start to their season.

O’CONNELLS: Stuart Reynolds; John McLoughlin, Conor Byrne, Adam O’Connor, Killian Staunton; Alan McKenna, Daire Smyth, Conor Neary; Jack Mulligan (0-2), Oisin McGuinness (0-4), Alan Quigley (0-7). Subs: Ian McDonald for G Hoey, Daire McKiernan for A Kieran.

O RAGHALLAIGHS: Joe Flanagan; Matthew Moore, Ciaran Brassil, Kevin Magee; James Morgan, Stephen Murphy, Emmet King; Eoin Moore (0-2), Ruairi Moore; Scott Byrne, Barry Flanagan (0-4), Bryan Smith; Ciaran O’Reilly, John Horan (0-1), Olan Walshe (0-1).

Cooley Kickhams made an encouraging start to the Sheelan Cup Group B campaign as the ran out comfortable winners at home to Glyde Rangers on Saturday night.

Goals from Michael Carron and Joseph Quinn either side of the break made the difference as the peninsula side emerged with a nine-point victory.

The Tallanstown side were competitive for much of the opening half but Cooley opened up a gap thanks to a goal from Michael Carron and at the break they were in a strong position with a 1-9 to 0-6 lead.

The result was never in doubt from that stage and a relatively quiet second period produced just five scores. The most significant came from substitute Joseph Quinn who added the second goal of the game to seal victory.

COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Shane Marks, Keith White, Dylan McGarrity; Dean McGreehan, Luke White, James O’Reilly 0-1; Peter Thornton, Patrick Hanlon; Emmet Rogan 0-4, James Loughran, Aoghain McGuinness; Michael Carron 1-1, Brian White 0-3, Michael Rafferty 0-1. Subs: Alan Page, Daniel Hanlon, Emmet McGuigan 0-1, Joseph Quinn 1-0, Patrick Sheelan, Declan McGuinness.

GLYDE RANGERS: David Brennan; Gerard Farrell, Conor McCulllough, Jason Dullaghan; Alan Brennan 0-1, Cein Sheridan, Dion Conlon 0-1; Ciaran Sheridan, Brian Duffy; Martin McArdle, Conor Sheridan, Aaron Devlin; Trevor O’Brien 0-5, Barry Brennan, Fiachra Sheridan 0-1. Subs: Kevin Kane, Dylan Kearney, Dean Brennan, Niall Sharkey. James Clerkin; Keith Ryan, Stuart Osborne, Stefan O’Hanrahan; Ciaran O’Brien, Conor Kiernan; Dean Corrigan, Salem Rifaie 0-1, Jackie Agnew 1-1; Paul McKeever, Niall Conlon 1-7, Robert Quigley 0-1. Subs Emmet Byrne for J McLoughlin, Conor McGill for C. O’Brien, David Hoey for J Clerkin, Cian Doyle 0-1 for P McKeever.

CLAN NA GAEL: Cillian Rice; Tiernan Weldon, Cian Callan, Kevin Carroll; Craig Long, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Micheal McDonnell; Robbie Curran 0-6, Paul Crewe; Jason Cullen, Sean O’Hanlon 0-1, Mark Lee; Mark Newell 0-1, Mark McGeown 0-1, Paul Gore 0-1. Subs: J Byrne 0-1 for K Carroll, T Reilly for T Weldon, G Curran for M Lee, D O’Donnell for J Cullen, D McGeown for M McGeown. NEWTOWN Blues began the new season as they finished the 2018 campaign with an impressive display in defeating Drogheda neighbours Oliver Plunketts on Saturday night.

Despite being without a number of players who are on duty with Louth, the County Champions proved they have plenty of strength in depth as they brushed aside the challenge of the Plunketts.

Robert Carr was in fine form in front of the posts as he finished with a total of eight points, while Jimmy Murray, John McDonnell, Hugh McGinn and Alan Connor all found the net.

The Plunketts battled throughout the contest but were unable to pose any serious questions for the hosts but they had good performers in Dean Carolan, Cillian Matthews and Tadgh O’Brien.

NEWTOWN BLUES: R Brown; N Costello, C Reynolds, T Costello; A Connor 1-0, J Connolly, J Kelly 0-1; C Reid, J McDonnell 1-2; L McQuillan, H McGinn 1-1, D Nally 0-2; R Carr 0-8, J Murray 1-3, J Doherty. Subs: T McCann for L McQuillan, J Moore for J Connolly, E McConnon for A Connor, P Moore for C Reynolds, A McGinn for J McDonnell.

OLIVER PLUNKETTS: Stephen Beirth; Tadhg O’Brien, Josh Cormican, Ciaran McCormack; Cillian Matthews, Cian Matthews, Ricky Bateson; Dean Carolan, Trevor Walsh; David Lambe, Cian Brady, Sean Callaghan; Craig O’Connor, Andy Morgan, Kevin Keogh. Subs: Luke Haggins for S Callaghan, Niall Murtagh for C O’Connor, Colm Duffy for S Beirth.